1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for charging a pourable material into a chamber, said material being supplied by gravity forces to an opening of said chamber via a channel, as well as to a device for carrying out said process.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous processes and devices for the charging of shaft furnaces such as, for instance, blast furnaces, melter gasifiers, converters or other reactor vessels are known (DE 1 907 224 A, EP 0 436 718 B1, EP 0 010 627 B1, JP 2000178624, JP 59226108 as well as JP 6256829). In all these known processes and devices, the pourable material to be charged gets to an opening of the shaft furnace in the upper region thereof via a channel designed as a downpipe and then falls directly into the interior of the reactor or shaft, respectively, either via a deflection means (e.g. according to DE 1 907 224 A) with the direction of movement being deflected, or without a deflection means (e.g. according to EP 0 436 718 B1 or EP 0 010 627 B1).
If no deflection means is provided, it is virtually impossible to achieve a uniform distribution of the material to be charged in the interior space, and least of all is it possible to effect a desired distribution, for example a preferred charging in the centre of the interior space or a charging preferably in the rim area.
In order to remedy this circumstance, it is already known to arrange distributing elements in the interior of the shaft furnace, which distributing elements permit a deflection of the direction of movement of the charged material, such distributing means can, for example, be arranged in the interior space in a pivotable or also in a slidable manner (cf. DE 1 907 224 A, JP 2000178624 and JP 59226108). However, these known devices have major disadvantages, particularly since the interior space has to be dimensioned larger around the arrangement of said distributing elements, since these elements occupy a certain height range of the interior space. Moreover, distributing elements of said kind are exposed to the strains of the interior space such as, for example, to the atmosphere of the interior space and to the temperature of the interior space so that such distributing elements are subject to substantial wear, in addition to this have to be serviced frequently and, furthermore, quite often cause failures. Furthermore, another disadvantage is that such an arrangement of distributing elements requires an extra-complex construction thereof for being able to withstand the high stresses and strains prevailing in the interior of a reactor or shaft, respectively.
Any attempts to produce relief by means of simple internal fittings such as, for example, by installing chains etc. have, in practice, proven to be of only limited value.